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KleptoHeart - October 2018

Right so, I think I'm done... I never want to look at Starlight Drive In Again! I decided to focus on making it more of a trade HUB cause I feel like a lot of supply lines tend to connect here. So I imagined that people just sprung up markets and stalls, and entertainment. I have a few places that are really kinda just for show because there isn't a means to do much with them other than that. ((Secretly hopes that her Tarot Card Reading shop will inspire a certain Sim Settlements Creator to make a fortune telling plot... Hint hint hint.))

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Level Zero

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Level Three

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Level Three Nighttime

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Entrance Night

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Level 3 alternate angle!

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Open Market Bazaar because I like open markets...
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More Market!

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Proper showers! Well sorta...

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Cafe Starlight! Best omelets north of the Charles!

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Having a sit at the cafe, with the Bus Station Variety Club and Starlight Delights in the distance.

It was lots of fun, but utterly exhausting. I couldn't have done it with out an unhealthy amount of coffee.
 
Holy cow that looks like a ton of work! it looks like a full fledgedcity tho so if you make it to the final or heck even into the city plans I might use yours cause its really cool how much space you used for this
 
Wow really!? AWESOME! I'm so glad you like it! I got a bit carried away I think. I just started sketching it out when I was waiting in the bus and I just kept adding and adding til I was sick of it.
 
I wish I could draw T>T despite being in the graphic and web designer field im terrible at making anything by hand like to design by flow more thats why I want to try to apply to be a user interface designer cause I love thinking about were people might look or how they might feel with certain colors make them feel
 
You can! It just takes lots of practice. Tbh though, I'm a fine arts graduate/ architecture school drop out, so I have an advantage there I guess? But I promise you could learn!
 
I don't have good hand-eye coordination so while I might learn the basics never gonna be an artist level good plus with having to work on coding and gaming there isn't a lot of time left in the day to devote to a skill I might not need or be all that great at. I'm better at digital rendering enough to get the point across
 
Well I certainly disagree lol. Learning to draw would most likely fundamentally improve your ability to render digitally. Because the principles of design are the same. It's just that the tool is different. Color theory is a MAJOR part of art and artists generally have to consider every bit of their work to convey the meaning they are trying to express, at advanced levels anyway. I'd say that the beginning stages is training your eye to grasp form and shape more than anything.

I remember one of my early classes, we had to draw a habanero pepper. The first time we drew it from memory/imagination and almost everyone did so the typical cartoon way. The second time we did, we were all given an actual habanero to study. The second drawing was vastly better because of the unique and subtle shapes and forms that it took. It was a really cool lesson that I'm totally gonna steal when I teach. "Real life is always more interesting than our imagination." as my mentor says. Anyway, you don't have to believe me! But I have faith that you totally could learn!
 
A very good City Plan. This reaffirms my own preference to use unusual themes & pieces when I am building. Since with regards to junk theme I will prefer to use yours rather than what I'd make with similar pieces. I will often feel bored/dissatisfied when I try building using base game sets, when I'm building I much prefer using the crazier sets like Snappy/SOE/etc. With junk theme I will use Rise of the Commonwealth City Plans or Contest City Plans.

((Secretly hopes that her Tarot Card Reading shop will inspire a certain Sim Settlements Creator to make a fortune telling plot... Hint hint hint.))
Hmm that's a really good idea! Did you have specific creator in mind? I'd like to consider trying it, though I've got some IRL stuff in the way for a while. :(

I think it would be very cool if you posted in-depth information topic about Art/Texture kind of stuff for Educational Vault or somewhere on here. A lot of us might have some ideas in mind that aren't really doable without being able to make custom art for it. I've got like 30 ideas in mind, probably 20 of them would require custom art assets and sadly those are the ones that are most interesting to me.

Like Fortune Telling plot, that's a definite example where ideally it will feature some custom made stuff. There's some stuff like the curtains from Memory Den, some canvas/tent sort of stuff IIRC but likely the best thing would be some custom textures on those.

Well I certainly disagree lol. Learning to draw would most likely fundamentally improve your ability to render digitally. Because the principles of design are the same. It's just that the tool is different. Color theory is a MAJOR part of art and artists generally have to consider every bit of their work to convey the meaning they are trying to express, at advanced levels anyway. I'd say that the beginning stages is training your eye to grasp form and shape more than anything.

I remember one of my early classes, we had to draw a habanero pepper. The first time we drew it from memory/imagination and almost everyone did so the typical cartoon way. The second time we did, we were all given an actual habanero to study. The second drawing was vastly better because of the unique and subtle shapes and forms that it took. It was a really cool lesson that I'm totally gonna steal when I teach. "Real life is always more interesting than our imagination." as my mentor says. Anyway, you don't have to believe me! But I have faith that you totally could learn!
This is really fascinating. And right in that it will enhance design sense. I am interested to learn though I do not have natural gift to draw unusually well without practice. As I very much like Anime & Manga I regularly see what's probably a lot of the best stuff that can be found, it can be quite unbelievable how well they convey a sense of 3D space as well as how vivid it can be with the highest quality stuff. Perhaps that can alter expectations and make it seem more difficult? Like how if you were to watch professional sports live all the time with all the best players in the world, it might make it feel impossible to play the sport yourself?

I guess watching Anime may help train the eye to grasp form & shape? Since it typically is totally seamless in terms of "feeling" 3D, it doesn't feel 2D at all. I used to have to adjust a bit but now I only ever have to if it's poor quality.

I don't have good hand-eye coordination
What might help here is getting gaming mouse like Logitec G502 which has DPI buttons. It's got a bunch of different modes and a thumb button that will reduce DPI drastically while held which is great for precision, it's an FPS mouse so that's the "sniping" button which is a cool little side benefit for Fallout 4. The ratio varies by mode & it can be like 1/10 or 1/20th of normal DPI, I'm hoping this might compensate for not having extremely steady hands. Mine aren't terrible but I don't have a surgeon's grip. I can also zoom in to further increase precision & perhaps use a 2nd monitor to display bird's eye view & highly zoomed in.

I bought that mouse specifically because I want to someday get into making outfits and it could help a lot with texturing. There are software options(though it can get pricey) as well that can generate stuff based on smart materials.

My hope with these is that it would help act as a sort of equalizer, that might make less of requirement to have special gifts & more about design. My hope is that by utilizing texturing software as well as the DPI adjusters it can become something more feasible.
 
Like Fortune Telling plot, that's a definite example where ideally it will feature some custom made stuff. There's some stuff like the curtains from Memory Den, some canvas/tent sort of stuff IIRC but likely the best thing would be some custom textures on those.

That's actually a good idea. a crazy chem using fortune teller could fit well into the theme of my upcoming add-on pack. I might steal that idea for a recreational plot or a VIP story if you are fine with that :P

I already made several texture versions of the curtains and a few other things that might fit well.

Not sure about the features for a recreational plot though... should it be only cosmetic or should it be interactive and offer some kind of service?
 
I didn't have any creator in mind tbh. So whoever wants to go for it! I built a small little one in my city plan, but it bugged me that I couldn't assign anyone to work there.

I think it offering a service of some sort would be cool, even if it was a phony one just to be funny. Kinda like in RL where they say really vague things and you end up answering questions lol.
 
I didn't have any creator in mind tbh. So whoever wants to go for it! I built a small little one in my city plan, but it bugged me that I couldn't assign anyone to work there.

I think it offering a service of some sort would be cool, even if it was a phony one just to be funny. Kinda like in RL where they say really vague things and you end up answering questions lol.

Some sort of Magic 8-Ball randomness, perhaps?
 
I didn't have any creator in mind tbh. So whoever wants to go for it! I built a small little one in my city plan, but it bugged me that I couldn't assign anyone to work there.

I think it offering a service of some sort would be cool, even if it was a phony one just to be funny. Kinda like in RL where they say really vague things and you end up answering questions lol.
Could be a lore friendly way for an addon to have some options perhaps.

Not sure about the features for a recreational plot though... should it be only cosmetic or should it be interactive and offer some kind of service?
I'd like to do interactive if I am able to learn how.
 
I'd like to do interactive if I am able to learn how.

the most easy thing to do is to make an activator, give em the model of a static and then add a script that does something onActivate(). like open a text/menu box.
Or a trigger box with a script that does something when you enter/leave the trigger box.

More complex would be having an NPC with quest and dialog that does something depending on dialog. Like giving vague hints to quest/story like mamma murphy.
Big problem with this is having no voice files is always strange, so far I did avoid having NPCs you can talk to whenever possible...

There are a bunch of tutorials on quest/dialog including an official CK one.
msg me in discord if you need help...
 
the most easy thing to do is to make an activator, give em the model of a static and then add a script that does something onActivate(). like open a text/menu box.
Or a trigger box with a script that does something when you enter/leave the trigger box.
Likely this is what I'd try.

More complex would be having an NPC with quest and dialog that does something depending on dialog. Like giving vague hints to quest/story like mamma murphy.
Big problem with this is having no voice files is always strange, so far I did avoid having NPCs you can talk to whenever possible...

There are a bunch of tutorials on quest/dialog including an official CK one.
msg me in discord if you need help...
Thanks! I'll likely need this sort of thing for other ideas like elite settler plot. When I get more free time I'll definitely do so. Right now I'm limited to checking forums/Discord several times a day.

I'm tentatively thinking I'd have a menu with "activate training", where it'd take some days and there's a chance of losing a settler perhaps. I initially thought of having some unlock method for it but perhaps it's better to have pseudo-unlock, like it has very high cost or risk unless condition X is true. In order to avoid the City Plan troubles if player didn't already unlock it.

About dialog isn't there some silent voice clips that are usable resources? I know that without them the subtitles either won't appear at all or are so fast you don't get a chance to see them(ie 1 frame only). I remember for the older games they had that & you could pick a length based on how long you want subtitle to be on screen, anywhere from couple seconds to 10 seconds.
 
Recording dialogue isn't usually too difficult in these games. Haven't tried in FO4 yet but previous versions just needed a mic (headset worked for me), free audio software (eg Audacity) and some patient file moving. I think this version is supposed to have fixed the lip sync too (might need to check that).
 
Recording dialogue isn't usually too difficult in these games. Haven't tried in FO4 yet but previous versions just needed a mic (headset worked for me), free audio software (eg Audacity) and some patient file moving. I think this version is supposed to have fixed the lip sync too (might need to check that).
Tech side is overall fairly easy but voice acting is very hard & there are very few who can do it. I've watched dubbed anime ranging from truly excellent down to terrible regarding the VA work, and it takes tremendous talent to do it well. Sim Settlements VAs are pretty talented and if they wanted, potentially could get in as dub VAs.

I suppose we could ask some of them, but I'd only do so if I had some very seriously cool stuff that was otherwise ready for release. Something like the fortune teller plot or elite settler plot with all of the proposed functionality and very complete, impressive designs.

Game can lip sync even custom dialog?
 
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